RPT-Haiti protesters vow to return to streets on Friday

By Anthony EspositoReuters

(Repeats story with no changes to text)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The cacophony of sirens,
horns and street vendors in Haiti's capital was quieter than
usual this week as residents remained on edge after recent
anti-government protests, which organizers have promised will
start again on Friday.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of
Port-au-Prince and the island nation's other main cities for
days of protests that began on Feb. 7, calling for President
Jovenel Moise to resign amid ballooning inflation, a weakening
currency and allegations of misused funds.

"The protests hurt my business. We're frustrated and the
people are still scared," said 33-year old Jocelyn Alexis, a
street vendor in the city center.

Other small business owners said that customers were still
staying away after the recent protests turned violent, even
though the marches died down this week.

Opposition leaders are calling for an independent probe into
the whereabouts of funds from the PetroCaribe agreement, an
alliance between Caribbean countries, including Haiti, and
Venezuela.

The agreement's preferential terms for energy purchases were
meant to help free up funds to aid development in Haiti, a poor
country habitually hammered by natural disasters.

"The fight will continue ... we will continue to seek the
president's resignation, and we need to have a PetroCaribe probe
because we need to end the corruption in this country that has
allowed a small minority to get majority of wealth," said
opposition leader Andre Michel.

"The new protests are set for Friday," he said. "The fight
will start again."

In an address from the presidential palace on Feb. 14, Moise
struck a combative note and defied calls for his ouster, saying
he would not hand the country over to drug traffickers and that
dialog was the only way to stop a civil war.

Haiti has a long tradition of corruption and international
partners and anti-graft watchdogs have often blamed Haitian
politicians for failing to crack down on the scourge.

The government's "mismanagement of the economy" has also
fueled Haitians' frustrations, said economist Kesner Pharel at
consultancy Group Croissance.

Annual inflation of 15 percent as of December and a currency
that weakened nearly 20 percent versus the dollar last year, and
continued to depreciate in 2019, has made buying basic
necessities more difficult in the Western Hemisphere's poorest
nation.

"People are living in misery. We won't stop until we get
what we need. We need better leaders in government that give
people hope. Until then the battle will continue," said senator
Evalliere Beauplan.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; editing by Darren Schuettler)